The 19th Rome Film Fest will return to the Eternal City from October 16th to 27th, featuring a mix of films for the big screen and TV series. Several Italian movies that didn’t make it to Venice, along with various international productions already showcased at festivals worldwide, are part of the lineup. This includes Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, which was well received at Cannes. The screening of this self-produced blockbuster will be the pre-opening event on October 14.
The festival will officially kick off with Berlinguer – La grande ambizione by Andrea Segre, featuring Elio Germano as the beloved Communist Party politician who passed away 40 years ago. Other Italian films in competition include L’albero, the debut feature by Sara Petraglia, L’isola degli idealisti by Elisabetta Sgarbi, and Paradiso in vendita by Luca Barbareschi.
Gabriele Muccino returns with the thriller Fino alla fine, while Michele Placido directs Eterno visionario, a film about the life of Italian playwright Luigi Pirandello, starring Fabrizio Bentivoglio. The Manetti Bros also return with U.S. Palmese, a sports-romantic comedy featuring Claudia Gerini and Rocco Papaleo.
The Italian premiere will include Conclave, starring Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci, shot at Cinecittà, and Hey Joe by Claudio Giovannesi, filmed in Naples with James Franco. Another standout is Longlegs by Osgood Perkis, son of actor Anthony, featuring Nicolas Cage as a killer, which has already captivated American audiences.
Uberto Pasolini reinterprets the Odyssey with The Return, starring Juliette Binoche and Ralph Fiennes, while Jason Reitman (Juno) revisits the chaotic 90 minutes before the first episode of Saturday Night Live in his film Saturday Night. We Live in Time, starring Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, tells the story of a chance-born couple over a decade.
Viggo Mortensen will be honored for his extensive career and will present his second directorial feature, The Dead Don’t Hurt, which he describes as “a feminist western.” Johnny Depp will also receive an award and present Modì – Three Days of Madness, starring Riccardo Scamarcio as the painter Modigliani.
Among the anticipated TV series are the final season (fourth) of My Brilliant Friend, based on Elena Ferrante’s acclaimed novels, and the return of Luigi Lo Cascio in Prime Video’s original Bad Guy 2. Also on the schedule is a sneak peek at The Count of Monte Cristo by Bille August, a co-production between Italy’s Palomar and France’s Demd Productions, starring Sam Claflin and Jeremy Irons. Other highlights include the second season of Netflix’s The Law According to Lidia Poët with Matilda De Angelis, and La Máquina, featuring Gael García Bernal as a boxer.
A tribute to Christopher Reeve, who passed away in 2004, will feature a screening of the documentary Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story, with directors Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui, and Reeve’s son, Matthew, in attendance.
Source: Repubblica
